Dark Promises
by Dragon Raptyr
Summary: Ghirahim promised Link that the hero's ears would bleed from the sound of his screams. He intended to keep that promise. a collection of oneshots featuring the various Links fighting Ghirahim. Rated T for Ghirahim's creepiness and implications of torture.


It's almost time for Nanowrimo, so I decided to warm up by doing these oneshots. This series will be the various Links facing off against Ghirahim. I'm putting them in chronological order, so that should help. One question to all of you- do you want me to do one story per game, or one per Link?

Oh, and just in case it's confusing at the end, always assume that each Link survives and wins.

I do not own the rights to Legend of Zelda.

* * *

"Watch where you're going!" Elzo barked sharply, keeping a sharp eye on the skulltula in front of them. Link shuddered, raising his shield to whack at it and expose its soft belly.

"So many spiders." The boy shuddered. "It doesn't seem to matter if I'm minish sized or not, there are always giant spiders."

Elzo shrugged as best the hat could. "I don't know what you're complaining about. A spider's a spider. All you have to do is kill it before it kills you." The hat rapped his beak against Link's skull. "Be glad that I'm here keeping an eye out. You'd get eaten for sure if I wasn't."

The pair pressed deeper into the ancient temple, one of the many dotting the land. This one had clearly been abandoned for centuries longer than any of the others. There were no moblins here, just wild things that gathered in the dark. Link wasn't sure this was even one of the temples he had to complete, since it had clearly been ransacked ages ago.

He paused for a moment, peering at an oddly shaped statue with spread wings. "What do you think it is?" he asked his hat curiously. "It doesn't look like anything else around here."

Elzo leaned forwards, tapping his beak on the stone. "It looks like it's a bird statue. Minish legend states that there used to be hundreds scattered about the countryside. Now there are less than fifty over the whole of Hyrule. No one knows who made them, or why."

"Wow." Link scraped off some moss, peering at the ornate blue and orange stone that pulsed under his touch. "It looks like it's always been here. It must have been put here at the same time as the temple."

Elzo shifted slightly, grumbling about a lack of proper recording instruments. "If that's the case, then this certainly isn't one of the temples that we're looking for. We should turn back before Vaati gets too far ahead of us."

Link swatted absently at Elzo. "We've come this far. Why not see what the rest of the temple is like? There might be a clue as to who built it, or some other special secret."

Ignoring Elzo's complaints on the matter, he pressed deeper into the depths of the temple. It had withstood the test of time remarkably well, even from outside. He had gotten lost in the forests above, taking a wrong turn and stumbling onto the clearing by accident.

It didn't take long to get to what Link guessed was the guardian chamber. The room was perfectly round, with a door on one side. Minish pots fully stocked with fresh heart blossoms were spaced evenly around the edges.

Link hurried over to the door, peering at it in curiosity. There was the same funny bird as the little statues, the rest of the room reflecting a simple forest motif in gold and white and blue stone.

"Oh? What do we have here?" a mocking voice called out, making Link freeze in his tracks. Spinning around, he came face to face with a slender man who was leaning against the doors. He had white hair covering one eye and pale gray skin covered by a form fitting white suit.

The man gave a dark chuckle, sizing up Link. "It would appear that I've come back just in time for some excitement." The man said, standing. "After so long with nothing to do, I was starting to get quite bored."

Cautiously, Link drew his sword and shield, not trusting the stranger not to attack him. "Who are you, and what do you want with me?" he asked.

The stranger shrugged. "You can't intend to fight me, can you boy? I'll tell you right now, that blade of yours cannot do anything to harm me."

Link glanced over the White Sword and shrugged. "I'll defend myself if I have to." He stated. "And you didn't answer my question."

The man grinned, showing far too many teeth. "Has history erased me already? The man asked mockingly. "It seems that you're in need of a history lesson."

Elzo grumbled at that. "He doesn't need a history lesson, just answer the question."

"Oh, what a clever little Picori we have here. Or do you go by Minish now? I must say, to find one of you as a hat is fairly disappointing. It's so much more fun to listen to you scream when you get pulled apart when you have limbs and a tail to tug off." The man shrugged. "But I suppose that I will acquiesce. I am called the demon lord Ghirahim. I'd prefer to be addressed as Lord Ghirahim, but whatever works for you."

Ghirahim licked his lips, grinning at Link. "As for what I want with you, I want to fulfill a very _very_ old promise. You see, my master laid a curse on his greatest enemies, that an incarnation of his hatred would pursue them throughout all of time. The ones who bear the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero."

"And you, little boy, bear that spirit." Ghirahim was behind him suddenly, running a long tongue across his cheek. Link froze, feeling Ghirahim's nails digging into his shoulders. "I swore that I would make the hero's ears bleed boy. And I'm not fussy about who that hero is."

Link drove an elbow into Ghirahim's stomach, stumbling away from the mad – creature? Thing? Raising his weapons, he glanced around, loathe to let it out of his sight.

Ghirahim straightened, bearing his teeth in a terrible grin. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned a thin black rapier. "So you want to make this interesting. Very well. Let's see just how much of a spine you have, shall we?

* * *

One down, lots to go! I think that the ones I'm looking forward to most are Wind Waker and ALttP.


End file.
